Microsoft’s Windows 10 event is over and with it came quite a few announcements. Many exciting ones such as HoloLens, Cortana coming to PC, and the new Surface Hub.
However, there is one new “feature” to Windows 10 that leaves me feeling like they missed an amazing opportunity.
With Microsoft’s new Xbox integration it is possible to stream your Xbox One directly to your PC. This is very similar to Sony’s Remote Play on the PlayStation 4, except instead of streaming to a phone or handheld system, it streams to your PC. The issue with this is that many gamers would prefer it in the other direction; being able to stream PC games directly to the Xbox One and play on their TV.
It’s no question that many games these days run at much higher graphics settings on PC than on console. Mostly because console hardware is locked and cannot be upgraded like it can for a PC. This allows games to look much better on PC than on their console counterparts.
One game that runs on both Xbox One and PC is Assassin’s Creed Unity.
The game is able to have higher graphics settings and run at a more reliable frame rate because of the hardware available on the PC. Would you want to stream this game to the Xbox One to see the game running at peak performance, or keep it limited to the hardware available a few years ago?
Secondly, Microsoft’s presentation on the new feature doesn’t imply that you can use your keyboard and mouse to play Xbox One games. This feature could help justify the addition of Xbox One streaming to PC, but again it feels like it was forgotten about somewhere along the line of development. This leaves you having to go and get your controller and bring it to your PC to stream the games from your console you could have simply played by picking up your controller.
Perhaps in the future Microsoft will find a way reverse the streaming options with the new Xbox One integration, but until that: I can’t say that I am too impressed with this addition to Windows 10.
